Portraits of master artists' lovers fetch high price

Jeanne Hébuterne (au foulard), by Amedeo Modigliani [Photo provided to China Daily]

Two separate female portraits of Pablo Picasso and Amedeo Modigliani's lovers accounted for nearly 80 per cent of the turnover at a London auction last week.

Sotheby's money-grossing sale of impressionism and modern art garnered $152 million in sales, on Tuesday night.

Picasso's cubist work, titled Femme Assise (sitting woman), topped the sale by selling for $64 million. It portrays the Spaniard's mistress Fernande Olivier.

Modigliani's painting of his muse Jeanne Hebuterne came in at second place, fetching $57 million.